Forever and a Day ~ James Potter

Pictures, Potions and Plants

Chapter Twenty-Four

Friday 9th January 1976 ~ 10:48 ~ waxing half moon

A couple of days had passed since Rosie and Remus had returned to their lessons, but many students still couldn't help but look at them from the corners of their eyes and begin muttering every time either of them walked by. Even those from other houses who hadn't even seen the incident had started to watch them warily in the corridors.

Rosie had once even heard a couple of third years, including an infamously strange girl named Sybil Trelawny, making up wild theories about how she and Remus had gained so many deep scars on their bodies. Luckily, neither of them had suspected lycanthropy, so Rosie didn't care what they thought about Remus's injuries.

She was now sitting scribbling notes down in Potions next to Sirius. It was her first lesson on this subject since December, so she was eager to catch up with the things she had forgotten about. Next to her, however, Sirius was leaning with his head in his hand and drooling a little as he napped. In front of her, Peter was frantically writing everything the Professor said while Alice copied off his notes.

Rosie couldn't help but look around at James, who had placed his stool as far away from his Slytherin partner as possible. The girl kept glancing over at him and tucking her hair behind her ear or straightening her tie, but he didn't take any notice. James was doodling on his spare parchment, sticking his tongue out a little in concentration while only half-listening to what Slughorn was saying.

There was a loud snort next to Rosie, and she almost jumped while people near the two looked around, frowning. Sirius's head dropped onto the desk, making him snore loudly as he woke up, going a bit pink as he saw people snickering.

"...and if you add two sprigs of Wolfsbane, your Wideye potion will be complete!" Slughorn finished his lecture with a flourish as students finished writing and put down their quills, shaking out their sore wrists.

"Next week, we shall spend a couple of lessons trying to brew our own," Slughorn gave the class a jolly smile. "You may pack away."

Those who hadn't started already packed away their things did so. The sounds of scraping chair-legs and zips filled the classroom while students started up their own conversations again.

Rosie smirked at Sirius, "Tired, Black?"

"Just a bit," he smirked back.

"And why is that?"

"Want me to go into detail?" he winked.

Sirius had been out on a date the previous night with someone from the Ravenclaw Quidditch team – he'd only asked her out so that he could report back to James and Frank with their strategy.

"No, thank you," Rosie grimaced, almost shuddering at the thought.

"Why couldn't they just get you to ask Prescott out, anyway?" Sirius asked, swinging his bag over his shoulder and standing up.

"Because he's my friend, and I don't want to use him just so that your lot can win your Quidditch match," she said, tucking hers and Sirius's stools under the high desk. "Plus, it was James's idea to do the whole thing anyway, and there's no way he'd suggest that."

"Yeah, well, at least I got a bit of fun out of it if you know what I mean," he grinned.

"Right," Rosie said flatly.

The bell rang, and Slughorn dismissed them, and Rosie was just about to walk out of the door when, "Ah, Miss Artois? May I have a word?"

She scowled quickly and turned around, plastering a polite smile onto her face, "Is something wrong, Professor?"